The deadly impact of Democratic leaders' support for the war, on the grass roots.

[Peace Patriot]

First I want to reference my post of May 22...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x3277067

...in which I discussed our Democratic Party leadership's collusion with the Bush Junta in fast-tracking an electronic voting system run on "trade secret," proprietary programming code, owned and controlled by rightwing Bushite corporations, during the 2002 to 2004 period, which occurred simultaneously with their collusion on the Iraq War.

In that post, I talk about the split in the Democratic Party between the office holders/leaders and the rest of us, who represent the majority of the American people. I fear a split in the party (for historical reasons--that's how Hitler rose to power, when the center/left was unable to govern). But it's not so much US--the grass roots--splitting off, as it is our leadership splitting off and abandoning us, and betraying us. The split exists. It is THEIR doing. What do WE do about it? What CAN we do about it? What SHOULD we do about it?

Can you stomach proceeding with this leadership--which betrayed us on "trade secret" vote counting, on the war and--almost under the radar, recently--on a secret "free trade" deal with Bush?

Do we have any choice? What should we do? This is what my May 22 post is about.

I also spoke of hope--in the comment section. And that is what I want to return to here. This second crushing defeat that the grass roots has suffered, over the war, following the crushing defeat of the 2004 fraudulent election.

One of the results of our party leadership's two-part collusion with the Bush Junta--on the war, and on electronic voting, in 2002--was to crush the grass roots movement to oust Bush that occurred in 2004. That grass roots movement--NOT the Democratic Party leadership!--had blown the Republicans away in new voter registration nearly 60/40, in 2004. This and many other stats indicate that it was virtually impossible for Bush/Cheney to win, and that they did not win. When Diebold/ES&S secret vote counting machines said they did win, the Democratic Party went into full denial mode, attempting to crush the election fraud movement that had immediately sprung up, to put the facts together and to challenge the election.

Those were dark days. Bush's "approval rating" immediately went into free fall, with an unprecedented 49% approval rating on the very day of his second inauguration, and never recovering. It's 25% to 30% today--probably what it has always been (except for briefly, just after 9/11). At the least, a dive from 49% to 25%/30%, over the last two years, indicates profound and fast-growing disapproval of the war and other fascist policy, with specific disapproval of the war standing at 56% in Feb. '03--just before the invasion--and growing to a staggering 75% today.

I have never seen anything like the demoralization of the Democratic Party grass roots that occurred after the 2004 election, since the JFK and RFK assassinations in the 1960s. It was as if people were in mourning. The people on the ground knew that we won. And not only were the war profiteering corporate news monopolies ignoring--indeed blackholing--all the evidence that we did, so was our own party leadership.

And hidden deep in the black hole in the "news" was the astonishing secret that our entire election system had been hijacked and was now run by rightwing Bushites on "trade secret" code with virtually no audit/recount controls.

Slowly, slowly, slowly, the grass roots of the Democratic Party has gotten back on its feet. In many cases, election fraud/election reform activists have led the way. Struggles have been mounted in many states against these highly expensive, highly insecure, and highly insider riggable voting machines--often with the Democratic leadership being the biggest obstacle to overcome. Massive vote suppression--often against black voters--has also been exposed, and fought--ALSO with foot dragging and lack of interest on part of many Democratic office holders. Leftist (majorityist) candidates were inspired to run in '06. Progressive Democratic caucuses arose within many local political establishments--challenging, challenging, challenging the pro-war establishment in DC, on behalf of the great majority of Americans. The movement achieved some victories, such as the replacement of Terry McAuliffe with Howard Dean at DNC, which resulted in more organization and support for the grass roots. And in '06, this movement--which had been given a near fatal blow in 2004--achieved what seemed miraculous: Democratic control of Congress.

But counter to Dean and the grass roots, other forces were working to hijack this movement for the election of ANY Democrats--including pro-war and "Blue Dog" Democrats, to keep the warmongers and the corporatists in charge. True leftist, anti-Iraq War candidates were often discouraged from running, underfunded and undermined. And where these fascist elements within our party could not prevent them from running, Diebold/ES&S "trade secret" vote counting was in place to keep them from winning. The result is plainly obvious: 75% of the American people oppose the war and want it ended, but they could only achieve a 50/50 Congress, one that is profoundly undercut by about 40 "Blue Dog" Democrats in the House, who want to cut all government spending except war spending.

Another drag on the popular will was the fact that only 1/3 of the Senate was up for reelection in '06, and thus the Senate is still full of Bushite and pro-war dinosaurs, who have not had any reckoning with the voters. And an additional drag, of course, is money and the filthy pro-war, anti-democratic lobbying scene in DC (the latter probably being more responsible for the elections of people like Lieberman and Feinstein, than Diebold/ES&S secret vote counting).

What I have gathered as a lesson from all of this--from Democratic Party leadership collusion on "trade secret" vote counting, collusion on the war, and other elements of the political picture--is that most of our Democratic Party leadership (particularly the most powerful office holders--the bought and paid for) despise, hate and fear the grass roots of the Democratic Party and wanted nothing more than to crush us completely in 2004. I cannot shake the feeling that they deliberately threw the 2004 election--awful as that is to contemplate--and that they wanted to never see us rear our rebellious, activist, progressive heads ever again, on behalf of the majority of the American people. And then we rose from the dead, anyway, in 2006, and roused the people to outvote the machines, in some cases, and to outvote the money, in some others--to give the Democrats (the only viable alternative) the majority in Congress!

And what do they do with that power? They ESCALATE the war!

This is Crush the Grass Roots, Part II.

You feel it? The gloom? The despair? That same feeling we had in 2004, and on the eve of the war?

I do. They don't need us any more. They have Diebold/ES&S and all the big donors. To hell with the people! They don't need us. They don't want us. They have split from us, and betrayed us.

And what should our response be to that? I am not sure. I am asking--as I was a few days ago.

For one thing, I started thinking about the members of Congress and other office holders and leaders who DO represent us. Even they have blackholed the "trade secret" vote counting issue. But that could be fear. There is NO issue that will get you isolated quicker than that one--and can even get you ruined. (Ask Kevin Shelley!)

In acknowledging that our leaders have split from us, we perhaps should not, in turn, abandon the leaders who have made an effort, and also the POTENTIAL candidates, who may run in '08. To appearances, the Democratic Party is the ONLY vehicle for change. Concurrently, our right to vote is our only mechanism to effect change. Both have been profoundly compromised. Do we have any choice but to work with this situation, as I have often urged--keeping transparent vote counting as Priority No. 1?

Is there some alternative course of action--that doesn't involve civil/political chaos, and the threat from the lessons of history, of the rise of Hitler II? (Historical parallels are never exact, and there are many differences between Germany 1932 and USA 2007, including the fact that 75% of our people have strongly resisted relentless, 24/7 war propaganda.)

Perhaps this recent, sickening betrayal on the Iraq War should move us to new heights of activism on CONGRESSIONAL (and state/local) elections--no matter what crap comes down in the presidential kingship "horse race." We got ourselves a Democratic Congress in '06 by outvoting the machines. Perhaps we can get ourselves a MORE Democratic Congress--a REAL Democratic Congress--by additional effort in '08. Maybe that's what we should do. I don't know. If they don't want a grass roots, maybe we should give them a BIGGER one! An unstoppable one. An unbetrayable one. An overwhelming one. Put aside the Diebold/ES&S-select presidential candidate. Just don't think about. That's not up to us. Concentrate on the counter-balancing powers: Congress, state offices.

Thoughts?

[BootinUp]

1. Calling the recent vote "support for war" is like

so many dishonest Republican attacks on liberals. So distasteful. You can do better.

[Peace Patriot]

4. You don't think larding another $100+ billion on war profiteers is "support?"

Most of the powerful Democratic leaders voted for this war. They've funded it time and again. They've never called it into fundamental question. And even after the American people have made it as clear as they possibly can--with a staggering 75% in opposition--they've now given Bush/Cheney unfettered leave to ESCALATE the war!

I have great admiration for the 156 Senators and Congress members who voted against the IWR back in 2002. What courage! But what should have happened now--and what would have happened, without "trade secret" vote counting by rightwing Bushite corporations, which shaped Congress to promulgate the war--is repeal of the IWR. It was based on 100% lies. It was unconstitutional. It was wrong. The results of the IWR have been heinous in the extreme, in bloodshed and looting and lawlessness. We have a criminal gang running our country--a wrecking crew out to smash the federal government to pieces--and Democratic leaders taking impeachment "off the table" and crying "we don't have enough votes," when it was THEY who supported destroying our election system with NON-TRANSPARENT vote counting!

What happened with this Democratic Congressional ENDORSEMENT of Bush/Cheney's filthy war, this week, is the same thing that happened when the Democratic leadership supported the Iraq War Resolution in 2002, and the invasion of Iraq in 2003, and NON-TRANSPARENT, Bushite controlled SECRET vote counting in 2004. It is the same thing that happened in 1964, when the Democratic leadership supported escalation of the Vietnam War. It is the same thing that happened in 1968, when the people of this country were given a choice between a Democratic war or a Republican war. Take your pick.

And it is height of the naivete, or know-nothingism, not to see this for what it is. It is the "military-industrial complex" War Party conniving to FORCE the American people to continue a war that the majority never wanted, and overwhelmingly want ended now.

It is disgusting and disheartening and crushing. And I don't know if the grass roots democracy movement in this country can recover from this blow--after so many others. Why should anyone walk the precincts, and get out the vote, and raise money for this bunch of rotten traitors in Washington DC?

Well, the only reason I can think why we should do it AGAIN is because these putrid, warmongering leaders DON'T WANT US TO. They want us to go away. They showed that in 2004. They showed that today. They want to play their big money games, and their big power games, and to hell with the people of this country. They don't want us. They don't want democracy!

Jim4Wes, you sound like you've crossed over into Bush Wonderland, where FUNDING the Iraq War is not really SUPPORT for the Iraq War, where killing people is not really murder, where mass slaughter is "freedom and democracy," where torture is "keeping us safe," and where grand theft of the peoples' money, on an unfathomable scale, is "supporting our troops."

Alice in Wonderland. That's where you're at. Upside down, backward and inside out. Pretzel logic.

I've seen this movie before.

It's name is "Vietnam."

[BootinUp]

5. Obviously you are entitled

to your opinions. You write very well and express them with a quite a nice flare. Maybe you have read some of my other posts on the subject. I stand by all of them and will leave it at that for now.

[grasswire]

2. I don't see these disappointed people...

...organizing a general strike, or even taking to the streets. Wouldn't that be the next step?

Except for committed peace activists, the rank and file of the base is still too content with the normalcy of their lives to be moved, yet.

And until that segment of the base is moved to some kind of real action, the politicians don't have enough cover to act boldly.

I'm struggling with this today. How much do I believe in what I say I believe? If I really believe the war should be ended, how can I sit at my computer for a couple of hours each day, and plan the summer family activities, and make a grocery list, and work in the garden, and and and? If I really believe the war should be ended, why am I not in the town square with a pot and pan, or a bullhorn?

I believe that one of our problems is actually the Internet, as it allows us to spew our views and anger in isolation, away from public notice.

[Rydz777]

3. I agree with your conclusion and much of what led up to it. For

me the two acid tests for leadership of the Democratic Party are (1) the war, and (2) "free trade."

Bush clearly plans to dump this disastrous war into the lap of a Democratic successor and then grin and swagger his way back to his hideout in Crawford. The only way to prevent this is to stop the war now. Otherwise, it will suck the oxygen out of the beginning of a new Democratic administration. But the Democratic leadership is failing the test.

Bush is putting the cost of the war ("off budget") on our great national credit card (increasingly maxed out = the dollar sinks) and the bankers for that credit card are China and Japan. The continuing de-industrialization of America, shipping our manufacturing to China, India, and elsewhere (so that we at home can all have "service jobs,")is breaking our labor unions, destroying our self-sufficiency, and making us more and more vulnerable to perturbations in the world economy. Again the Democratic leadership is failing the test, collaborating in NAFTA, CAFTA, and most recently in collaboration with Bush in attempting to extend fast track authority.

The silver linings: The Democratic grassroots and netroots are increasingly organized and vocal, and the Republican Party is going through an existential crisis of its own. I honestly believe that when the dust settles that all that will be left will be the "New Whigs," the country club set of Republicans.

[Peace Patriot]

6. "...dump this disastrous war into the lap of a Democratic successor..."?

You make the Democratic leadership which has supported this war all along sound like victims. They wanted this war, is my point. If they had not wanted it, and if they did not want it now, they would have long ago raised a hue and cry about rightwing Bushite corporations "counting" all our votes under a veil of corporate secrecy. The two things--"trade secret" vote counting and the invasion of Iraq--were set up in the same month, October 2002, by the same people, for the same purpose: overriding the will of the American people on war and on every other progressive value, including the regulation of global corporate predators, who are now destroying the labor movement and the planet.

"The silver linings": Yes, I agree, there are some. The Bush Junta has ripped the scales from many peoples' eyes. The inherently peace-minded and progressive American people are waking up to the horrors of Corporate Rule and fifty years of war profiteering, capped by the biggest "military-industrial" looting expedition ever. But what I'm saying is that the war profiteers, both Democratic and Republican, anticipated this awakening--as they had failed to do regarding Vietnam--and TOOK PREEMPTIVE STRIKE MEASURES TO DEFEAT IT, primary among them, the fast-track conversion of our entire election system to "trade secret" vote counting inside black box voting machines that no one has a right to open and investigate.

Recently, in the FL-13 Congressional election, ES&S voting machines 'disappeared' 18,000 Democratic votes for Congress, in an election decided (for the Republican--always) by some 300 votes. When the true winner's (the Democrat's) lawyers took this matter to court, and asked to review the programming code in these machines, to try to figure out what happened to those votes, ES&S REFUSED, and said, in essence, that their right to the "trade secret" code--that is, their right to PROFIT FROM our election system--trumps the right of the voters to know how their votes are being counted. And the judge AGREED--either because he is a Bushite fascist, or a Democratic corporatist, or because he lacked the courage to challenge anti-democratic, unamerican laws, written by these corporations' lawyers, and inserted into our law codes by bought-and-paid-for legislators.

We need to realize HOW OUTRAGEOUS THIS IS. This is NOT NORMAL. This is UNREASONABLE. It is insane. 18,000 'disappeared' votes--and the public has NO RIGHT to know what happened?!

The Democratic Party leadership agreed to this. They not only did not cry the alarm, they PUSHED IT. They fully supported it. More Democratic Senators voted for the "Help America Vote for Bush Act" of 2002 than voted for the Iraq War Resolution!

I am well aware that the grass roots of the Democratic Party, and the people of this country, are awakening. It is a wonderful thing to behold. But I strongly believe that focused and realistic assessment of WHAT THE PROBLEM IS is essential to our success. No strategy that depends on leaders who are (s)elected by Diebold/ES&S, and who have betrayed us in fundamental and unforgivable ways, is going to succeed. Our leaders will betray us time and again, because they are NO LONGER BEHOLDEN TO US. First it was the money--millions needed just to run for Congress. But now it is DIRECT, SECRET, rightwing Bushite corporate control of the actual vote counting and the outcomes of elections.

FL-13 is a watershed. Who is now sitting in a DEMOCRATIC Congress, representing FL-13? The Republican! The guy whom ES&S stole 18,000 votes to put there. A DEMOCRATIC Congress, with the power to throw him out! Hear anything about FL-13? Hear anything about the OTHER "trade secret" elections that were challenged by REAL Democrats? These challenges are being covered up and deep-sixed FOR A REASON. The Big Secret. The Democratic Party leadership SUPPORTS "trade secret" vote counting!

And we have never had a better demonstration of what "trade secret" vote counting is FOR--what it was put in place to do--than this week's Democratic leadership cave-in to Bush on the ESCALATION of the war.

So the smartest strategy for the grass roots of the Democratic Party, and for the American people whose will has time and again been thwarted, is NOT to "take to the streets," as some are saying--cuz, let me tell you, the fascists on both sides of the aisle are well prepared for that (let me remind you who was president during Seattle '99)--unless it was to be to march down to your local Registrar's office, where you might actually have some influence, and demand vote counting that everyone can see and understand!

Put a million people in the streets. Put two million people in the streets. Our government has plenty of CS gas for everybody. Or maybe they don't. Who am I to say? I would never oppose such a popular street action. Indeed, I would fully support it (and often have, in my life). But until the signs all say "Stop Secret Vote Counting!" we're never going to get anywhere. Our government DOES NOT GIVE A GODDAMN that we hate their war! And our message should not be for THEM--they don't care--it should be for OTHER Americans, who are demoralized and DISENFRANCHISED, to clue them in to the problem, so that THEY can solve it--at the local/state level. (Local/state is the best venue for getting rid of these election theft machines--Congress ain't gonna do dick about it, believe me.) It's better to put a hundred protesters at your local Registrar's office, or five thousand in the state capitol at your secretary of state's office, than to put a million in DC.